Taylor Swift ruins everything...

Yesterday Taylor Swift released a new song off her album that drops next week called "Welcome to New York" and later that afternoon released a song called "Track 3." The problem? "Track 3" was 8 seconds of static (or the ocean as the inventive Canadian fan above noted) and this "glitch," as it has been called, was unique to Canada and quickly shot to #1 on the iTunes (beating two other Taylor Swift songs) charts in Canada where it sits til it resets after 24 hours.

While you could poke fun at the Canadian disposition of being too nice, or having terrible taste in music (Brian Adams, Nickelback, etc) that seems to exonerate American fans as if the exact same thing would not have happen here. Taylor Swift fans are very excited about the album, the songs are catchy - very catchy, she is playing with some new sounds, and Shake It Off has been out for a while.

That formula builds excitement that is primed to boil over. However, nothing attracts a crowd, like a crowd and when "Welcome to New York" didn't blow up the Internet the viral way "Shake It Off" did (as of writing the YouTube video had not cracked 1 million views, while "Shake It Off" did that in an hour) - "Track 3" came along to rescue the marketing machine.

In the music business everything is intentional (even the unintentional) and a week before an album drop to have a "clean controversy" on every news channel, website, or blog that deals in the zeitgeist is not a bad thing for selling records. In fact, if you are not cautious of any story where the two main characters (in this case T Swizzle and iTunes) have not commented, you should be because that response leans into intent.

It is nearing the end of October and not ONE record released this year has gone platinum, but moves like this make the goal seem attainable as most fans won't ask for a refund (see Canadian politeness) and who doesn't want to be a part of an Internet meme?

Taylor, even if you HATE her music, is brilliant at marketing in the Top 40 universe and has only gotten better with time. 1989 is ready to go and yesterday proves the web is ready to consume whatever Miss Swift has up her sleeve for Tuesday.

My guess, is that they will bust the date and drop the record on Friday, FYI.